CONNECT

This is the 3rd of a multi-part series, where I highlight how this system often works against men/boys who live in the intersection of Blackness and Queerness. In the first part, I discussed the murder of Giovanni Melton, a 14 year-old boy killed by his own father. The second part goes over the case of Gemmel Moore, murdered by an affluent white Gay man. Here, I’ll be discussing the overall theme, of how the general disregard for Black LGBTQ people enabled both of these tragedies.

I decided to focus on the murders of Giovanni and Gemmel because I felt like both cases, together, highlight conflict that all Black Gay men (and Black LGBTQ folks, overall) face. There’s risk of discrimination, erasure and violence in most any space that we’re in. There’s anti-Blackness in many LGBTQ spaces, and anti-Queerness in many Black spaces.

Black LGBTQ folks are constantly put in a position of having to choose between race and sexual/gender identity. Worse, not only are we expected to “pick a side,” but it never is to benefit us. WhiteGayze™ expect us to fight for Gay/LGBTQ causes through a white-centered lens, with no regards to race. Black people (primarily cisgender & heterosexual) expect us to fight for Black causes, but through the lens of cishet men (i.e. “Race first”**), with no regards to sexual/gender identity. And any time we try to fully affirm ourselves, we’re labeled a “distraction.”

Truth of the matter is, the goal isn’t to advance true liberation by subverting white supremacist, colonial systems. The real goal of many people is to see Black cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied men and/or WhiteGayze™ sit in the position that white, cishet, able-bodied men currently hold. And they want us to happily and quietly take every bit of their abuse in the process. [Read more…]

2017 Pride season is on the horizon, so, once again, I wanna help you “allies” be a little less terrible.

With all the mess surround president Drumpf (and there’s way too much to keep up with), one of the big topics is his ties with Vladimir Putin and Russia. For those unaware of said ties, I don’t feel like giving an overview and you’re likely reading this from a device that has Google. But basically, some of the popular chosen responses to the connection between the two has been something to the tune of: [Read more…]

So…I should preface this by establishing that, while this piece is in response to the recent story of Lomi Taryn being ostracized by her base and employer, it is, in NO way, being written in support or defense of Toe-Me Laryngitis. Yes, she was wronged, but my sympathy is reserved for the people who don’t use a platform to sustain white supremacist politics. Not to mention, she’s a mediocre white woman and liberals have been itching to make space for her for months, now. Even if she’s ultimately let go, she’ll be handed another paid opportunity by the end of the week (likely from some liberal and/or white feminist platform).

With that out of that way…

I wanna start by telling a little story from my time living in Central Texas. See, in a past life, I had a dark period where I once dabbled in conservatism—now, keep in mind that it was a reaction to being a former democrat…and again, I was living in Central Texas. I had several white conservatives around me, and they often LIVED for hearing what I had to say. Some were practically ready to throw me a parade when I would go in on Obama.

But one of my “favorite” instances, in particular, was one of these conservative WhiteGayze™ I’d come across in Houston, who’d taken an immediate liking (read: fetish) to me.

Recently, an article was published via Guardian, examining the whole “No Blacks, No Asians” issue among gay men. It was the latest in a semi-wave of articles being written over the last couple of years, largely by white, gay men, examining the issue. The article, for the most part, wasn’t terrible (not at all groundbreaking, to anyone who’s been paying attention, though). It was a 101 intro to racism in the gay community…but for me, that’s part of the issue…but of course, I’ve been wanting us all to get out of the kiddie pool of social justice for a while. Additionally, looking on Twitter, the author’s responses to the fair and legit criticisms from POC have been telling, if not typical. There’s this expectation from white people that, just the most basic acts of “allyship” puts one above reproach. I’ve discussed my issues with “allyship” in pieces throughout this site, so no need to dive into it, here, but this just all feels very familiar…and old. [Read more…]